University students’ approaches to project-based learning (PBL): An Engineering context

Mahbub Hasan

PhD Student

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Email: m.hasan6@uq.edu.au

Presentation Layout

INTRODUCTION

PBL in Engineering education

• Engineering students are to deal with lots of technical concepts

• To have a clear understanding of technical concepts, project-based learning (PBL) has been widely used as a teaching strategy in engineering education (Mills & Treagust, 2003).

• “Project-based learning can be defined as an activity in which students develop an understanding of a topic or issue through some kind of involvement in an actual (or simulated) real-life problem or issue in which they have some degree of responsibility in designing their learning activities” (Morgan, 1983).

Approaches to learning-meaning

• The term ‘approaches to learning’ refers to how students go about something in a specific context.

• Researchers are interested in asking the question:

‘why should students with the same perceptions of the same courses adopt different approaches to learning?’.

Research question

1. How do engineering students approach and enact learning within a project-based learning environment?

Literature Review

Literature review (Approaches)

Author(s)and Date

Focus Sample Geographicalcontext

Educationalcontext

Activity

(Yang &Tsai, 2010)

Learningthrough onlinepeerassessment

163collegestudents

Taiwan Nursing Toaccomplishanassignment

(Trigwell,Ellis, &Han, 2012)

Relationshipbetweenemotionsapproaches tolearning andlearningoutcome

388universitystudents

Australia First-yearbiology

(Robert A.Ellis et al.,2008)

Onlinediscussion

110universitystudents

Australia Third-yearengineering

Onlinediscussion

(R. A. Elliset al.,2006)

Onlinediscussion

105universitystudents

Australia Second-yearpsychology

Onlinediscussion

(Drew etal., 2002)

Approaches tofashion designproject

21Universitystudents

UK Fashiondesign

Project work

Methodology

Methodology –Phenomenography

Why phenomenography ?

Phenomenography

The research questions was related to students’ approaches to learning. As evidenced by the literature, it is clear that a phenomenographic methodology, in line with variation theory, can be adopted in the quest to answer questions of this nature.

Points of Departure Between Phenomenography and Other Research ApproachesSource: (Trigwell, 2006)

Phenomenography

Other methods

Phenomenographic relationality J. Bowden, 2005

Relationship in this research

Sample in Phenomenographic study

1. Recommended sample size is 15 to 20. However, a sample size of 10 is required to create a reasonable variation in the categories of descriptions. Trigwell (2000)

2. Participants must have relevant experience on the phenomenon studied

3. Variation in sample is also recommended

Data Analysis (Sjöström & Dahlgren, 2002)

Step 1 • Familiarisation – read transcript several times

Step 2 • Deducing Dis/similarity – record all response to a question

Step 3 • Condensation – Sort out irrelevant

Step 4 • Preliminary grouping – record similar answer to a question

Step 5 • Preliminary comparison of categories – check no overlapping

Step 6 • Naming the categories – according to distinguishing feature

Step 7 • Final outcome space – based on internal relationships

Pilot project

Research set up

Sample size : 4

Level of study :Masters level

Course :Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Student project :ERP package for an organisation

Age range :20s-30s

Backgrounds :Students from different engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, electrical and computer engineering were included in this study.

Sample characteristics

Participants CurrentLevel ofstudy

Academic Background Demographicbackground

Professionalqualification

Current project

P1 Master Bachelor in Computer Science

India Technical recruiter ERP for a charityorganisation

P2 Master Bachelor in Electronics and Communication Engineering

India Worked in Oil andGas industry

EPR for Volvotrucks

P3 Master Bachelor in Electrical Engineering

India N/A ERP for a charityorganisation

P4 Master Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering

Australia Internship in Designoptimisation custombody

ERP project

Data Collection

• Interview is the primary tool for data collection in phenemenographic research

• Interview type- individual, in-depth, semi-structured

• Length of interview – 40-50 minutes

• No pre-conceptions about approaches to learning –

Example question:

• Explain how have you participated in this project? Say what actually you did rather than what you should have done.

Deep and Surface approach

Students approaches in PBL-Findings

1. Surface approach – focus on grades Do minimum to meet course requirement Checking ongoing works through what’s app

2. Deep approach – focus on learning Meet someone who has done this before Fix someone who access your work Brainstorming for understanding Gathering information beyond minimum requirement Good quality for future reference and to get recognition Produce something non-existing Meeting face to face to minimize doubts Use Dropbox or OneDrive for file sharing and idea generation

3. Strategic approach – focus on both grade and learning

Students approaches in PBL-Findings

Approach A

A product-focused strategy with the intention to demonstrate technical competence

Approach B

A process-focused strategy with the intention to develop the project design process.

Approach C

A concept-focused strategy with the intention to develop own conceptions

Intention-strategy framework R. Ellis, Marcus, and Taylor (2005)

Strategy Intention Focus of learning Developing

technical concepts Developing process Developing own

conceptions Making a product (Product focus)

A(Surface approach)

Experimenting with projects (process focus)

B (strategic approach)

Development of concepts (Concept focus)

C(Deep approach)

Dimension of Variations

Approach A Approach B Approach CLearning objectives Repetition:

Memorizing and applying techniques and procedures

Trial and Error: Product is not the main objectives, rather the process

Developing concepts/ideas through research

Purpose of Interactions with teacher/peers

Being instructed or show techniques and procedures

Ways of seeing things differently

Develop critical and conceptual thinking skills

Significance

Students – will get idea what PBL is and how should they approach

Relations between conceptions, approaches and learning outcomes will guide them

Teachers – will get idea about students’ approaches to PBL and redesign teaching methods

Curriculum planners – will get insight about students learning strategies in PBL and modify curriculum

Limitations

Small Sample size

A larger sample might represent more homogeneous views. From this small sample size, each category was drawn by the experience of at least one but usually four or more participant

Variation in Sample

Additional approaches could be sought with a sample of students from different educational backgrounds

Interview

Questioning was not in phenomenographic nature.

When did you enjoy working in a project?

References

Bowden, J. (2005). Reflections on the Phenomenographic Team Research Process. In J. Bowden &P.Green (Eds.), Doing developmental phenomenography (pp. 11-31): Melbourne: RMITUniversity Press.

Mills, J. E., & Treagust, D. F. (2003). Engineering education—Is problem-based or project-based learning the answer. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 3(2), 2-16.

Morgan, A. (1983). Theoretical Aspects of Project-Based Learning in Higher Education. BritishJournal of Educational Technology, 14(1), 66-78. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.1983.tb00450.x

Ellis, R. A., Goodyear, P., Calvo, R. A., & Prosser, M. (2008). Engineering students' conceptions ofand approaches to learning through discussions in face-to-face and online contexts. Learning andInstruction, 18(3), 267-282. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.06.001

Thank you